Brazilian independence movement
In the first decades of the 19th century, the Brazilian independence movement led to the separation of Brazil from the Portuguese colonial power and to final independence on September 7, 1822.
It is celebrated on September 7th, the anniversary of the date on which, in 1822, Prince Regent Dom Pedro declared Brazil's independence from the former United Kingdom of Portugal , Brazil and the Algarve . Formal recognition came three years later with a treaty signed by both the new Empire of Brazil and the Kingdom of Portugal in late 1825 .
Brazil's path to self-employment
In Brazil , which was then still Portuguese territory, emancipation was linked to the political and military events in Europe during the Napoleonic period. After the Peace of Tilsit in August 1807, Napoleon demanded that Portugal join the continental blockade and break off relations with Great Britain, which brought Portugal into the British-French conflict and faced a difficult choice. Either it had to face an overpowering, continental opponent or defend its colonial possessions against a superior sea power. Portugal decided to reject France's demands and thereby catalyzed the invasion of France, with its ally Spain , in Portugal. One day before French-Spanish troops entered the capital Lisbon on November 30, 1807, the royal family, the court, a large part of the Portuguese nobility and leading officials fled to Brazil under the protection of British warships. On March 7, 1808, the royal family landed in Rio de Janeiro and immediately made the city their residence. Thus, for the first time in European colonial history, the political headquarters of a great European colonial power was relocated from the Old to the New World .
Brazil's first step towards independence began in the economic field. Portugal was occupied by enemy troops and money was needed. One was therefore dependent on the income in the colonies. The crown had no choice but to overturn the mercantilist system that made the Brazilian economy dependent on the motherland . With the Brazilian ports opened to foreign countries on January 28, 1808 and the abolition of the mercantilist system, Brazilian foreign trade grew enormously and allowed the establishment of local textile industries , which became the most important branch of production for supplying the domestic market . In 1808, the first bank was founded in Brazil, which was supposed to regulate payment transactions and the credit system. Within a short time, Brazil achieved economic independence from motherland Portugal. Unlike in Hispanic America , economic independence was here, a precursor of the political separation from the metropolis , not a by-product. After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna came on the scene, which examined and determined the claims and legal titles of European dynasties from the point of view of legitimacy . The Portuguese ruling house was induced to fix the changed position of Brazil under constitutional law . On December 16, 1815, the colony became a kingdom and was granted political equality with the mother country. The resistance of the Prince Regent Johann VI. to return to Portugal against the urging of his Portuguese advisers and his British allies, extended the phase of Brazil's transition, which enabled the country to gradually become independent.
Separation from Portugal
In 1820 the Brazilian emancipation process was set in motion by events on the Iberian Peninsula . The liberal uprising sparked a similar movement in Portugal that combined liberal with national goals. She turned against the impairment of Portuguese sovereignty by the presence of British troops and against the leadership of the Regency Council by Lord Beresford . Domestically, the insurrectionary movement strove to establish a constitutional monarchy. Through the formation of a provisional government, the ousting of Beresford and the convening of a constituent assembly, the rebels were able to achieve their goals that same year. This news was received positively in Brazil, which resulted in sympathy rallies in larger cities and in several provinces the captains general were replaced by liberal juntas . On February 26, 1821, after the initially undecided King John VI had given in to the demands of the citizens and the military stationed there, he undertook to recognize the still-to-be-adopted constitution and to transfer it to Brazil without changes. On April 24, 1821, an assembly of deputies met in Rio de Janeiro , which was called before the departure of the king and had the task of electing deputies for the Cortes in Lisbon. The assembly decided that the Portuguese constitution of 1812 should be adopted for Brazil and that the king should remain in the country. A few days later the assembly was dispersed and the monarch induced to declare the future Portuguese constitution binding. The royal family returned to Portugal on April 26, 1821, while the Crown Prince stayed in Brazil to represent his father. After the departure of the court, the differences intensified. The Cortes in Lisbon had reversed the measures of 1821 that had made the colony economically and politically independent in previous years. The political equality of the Kingdom of Brazil with Portugal was also reversed, while at the same time native Brazilians were excluded by law from political and military office. These narrow-minded attempts by the Cortes to restore the colonial state of Brazil gave the impetus to the final detachment from the mother country. In June 1822 the Crown Prince, who identified himself more and more with the goals of the Brazilian party, ordered a constituent assembly to be called, which he instructed to lay the foundations for independence. In August, any landing by Portuguese troops was declared inadmissible and the population was asked to wage war in the event of an invasion. Because of this development, the act of separation from Portugal was only a final step towards independence. This was done on September 7, 1822, when letters from the Cortes were brought to the Crown Prince at Ipiranga, which annulled all measures of the regent and his ministers were declared traitors. With the exclamation of “independence or death” the final break with Portugal was carried out and the prince was appointed “ constitutional emperor and defender of Brazil” by the city council of Rio de Janeiro on October 12, 1822 . On December 1 of the same year he was crowned Pedro I. The last remaining Portuguese troops were forced to withdraw by Brazilian forces , while only a few Portuguese units remained inside after the " call of Ipiranga ". In 1825, the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro was finally signed between Portugal and Brazil , with which Portugal formally recognized Brazil's independence. However, the new emperor Peter I gave his father Johann VI. the title of "Emperor of Brazil" while Peter I remained the formal Crown Prince of Portugal. This made the Portuguese king, at least formally, co-head of state of Brazil until his death in 1826 and demonstrated the close family ties between the two states.
Result
In contrast to the independence movement in Spanish America, the Brazilian independence movement proceeded in a peaceful way, while maintaining the territorial unity of the former colonial domain and maintaining the monarchical form of government.
The authority of the crown was retained through its support for the emancipation movement and, through its power of integration, made a decisive contribution to curbing armed conflicts between supporters and opponents of the independence movement and preventing the liberation of particular powers and thus the breakup of the state.
Due to the continued existence of dynastic ties to Portugal during the independence epochs, Brazil was more exposed than the Spanish-American republics to the influences of European states and was forced to take the power constellation of the Old World into consideration.
The supporters of the Brazilian emancipation movement were members of the local class of landowners , especially the planter aristocracy, who advocated political self-determination, constitutionalism and economic liberalization . The goals and results of the Brazilian emancipation movement were thus to achieve state independence while maintaining existing economic and social structures .
literature
- Emancipation of Brazil. In: Inge Buisson , Herbert Schottelius : The independence movements in Latin America 1788-1826. Stuttgart 1980, pp. 119-131.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ 07.09.1822 Brazil becomes independent - Wissenschaft.de. Retrieved April 20, 2020 .
- ^ History. February 9, 2011, accessed April 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Armitage, John .: Historia do Brasil: desde o periodo da chegada da familia de Breganca, em 1808, ate a abdicacao de D. Pedro I, em 1831, compilada a vista dos documentos publicos e outras fontes originais formando uma continuacao da Historia do Brasil de Southey . Itatiaia, 1981 ( worldcat.org [accessed April 20, 2020]).